Use Indians abroad to promote national interest
A recent UN survey has found that this country has the world's largest diaspora with 16 million Indians living abroad. The study only includes those who were born in India but now live outside the country and, therefore, leaves out the sizeable number of Indian-origin foreign citizens who are also part of the diaspora. When these individuals are counted, the size of the Indian diaspora grows to 5.69 crore as on January 2015, according to the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (now merged with the Ministry of External Affairs). The question here is: How can the Indian Government leverage this foreign demographic dividend to promote its interests abroadIJ To answer this question, it is important to underline some of the salient features of the Indian diaspora: First, Indians working abroad send back large amounts in remittances every year. In 2014-2015, they sent $72 billion, which is at least twice, if not thrice, the foreign direct investment in the country, making India the largest remittance-receiving nation. Second, Indians abroad are mostly highly-skilled. While there are also thousands of semi-skilled workers, especially in the Gulf, the Indian diaspora overall is disproportionately well-educated and wealthy and eventually powerful. For example, in the US, which has a relatively young Indian diaspora, the Indian community is already sending representatives to the Congress, has a presence in the White House and holds senior positions in the bureaucracy. Across the Atlantic, in several African countries, though the Indian community is smaller, it is still significantly powerful with Indian-origin heads of state even. Third, Indians abroad maintain a special connection with their motherland, irrespective of whether they are recent immigrants (such as in the US) or have lived abroad for generations (think of Indian-origin people in Mauritius, Fiji or Trinidad and Tobago).
The cumulative impact of all these factors can be enormous. However, it is yet to be mobilised. Previous Governments have taken some steps, such setting a separate Ministry for the diaspora and organising the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, but these have only had a limited impact. The incumbent Government has made the diaspora an important aspect of its foreign policy but it is too early to gauge its impact on the ground. looking ahead, a comprehensive, multi-pronged strategy is necessary to make the most of India's diaspora advantage. This must include administrative, financial, political and socio-cultural elements. The Government should make it easier for those of Indian-origin to travel to and invest in India. It should also look into diaspora bonds of the sort that were issued in the late 1990s. At that time, it was expecting about a billion dollars in financing but raised five times the amount. Politically, there's a lot that Indian parties can do to cultivate the diaspora. The BJP is a step ahead of most other parties in this regard but there's still a long way to go.